Indian firm sues South Africa after losing AIDS drug contract

JOHANNESBURG: An Indian manufacturer of drugs to treat HIV/AIDS is suing the South African government after failing to clinch a $400-million tender, South African media reported on Monday.

Aurobindo, one of the world's biggest producers of generic life-prolonging antiretroviral treatment (ARV), says its tender was, on average, 30 percent cheaper than locally-manufactured products, Business Day newspaper reported.

Over half the contract for the national supply of ARVs went to two local pharmaceutical companies, Aspen and Adcock Ingram, also manufacturers of generics. The rest went to patent holders.

South Africa, which has over five million HIV-positive people, the largest number in the world, has a policy of giving preference to local companies in tenders for the supply of ARVs.